Feb 11 2013 FRICK: Piero della Francesca's Altarpiece Heaven

Curator Nat Silver Gathers Religious Masterpieces
Spiritual Balm for Modern Madness
Perhaps the most celestial art in Manhattan may be seen at the Frick until My 19th, 2013, in its Oval Room, the hall at the far end of the main drag. Exclusive to the Frick, the young guest curator Nathaniel "Nat" Silver has gathered seven works by the holy founder of the Renaissance, Piero della Francesca, six of which are panels from the Saint Agostino altarpiece, the largest number ever reassembled, and the seventh is the only intact altarpiece in this country, the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Four Angels.
The fifteenth century (1411/13 - 1492) Italian master painter of the Tuscany town of San Sepolcro was rediscovered by American collectors at the turn of the century, a story told by Silver in the accompanying catalogue, so four works belong to the Frick, two were brought over from Lisbon (Museu Nacional de Arte Antigia) and there is one from Massachusetts (Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown) and one from Washington (Nationa Gallery). The 149 page catalogue with 80 color plates ($27.50) is a substantial account of Piero and his art with additional essays by the leading expert Machtelt Israels from the University of Amsterdam, whose mapping of the altarpiece is hung on the wall, and professor emeritus James Banker of North Carolina State University, who has discovered another patron of his work, and it includes revelations from new technical examinations.
But the main impact of the show is to bring home once again how ineffably pure is the spirit which imbues these tributes to a religious faith which enabled the inhabitants of medieval Italy to transcend the privations and threats of their lives, which by modern standards were so appalling. These altar pieces seem like a direct window into some heavenly realm, and surely will serve just as well today as balm for the spirit for the contemporary visitor dealing with the materialism, virtual unreality and moral violence outside the walls of the Frick.